There are a variety of openings in a vehicle body, such as a trunk opening, an engine compartment opening, and a number of door openings. Many of these openings contain several flange portions that are welded together to join an exterior body panel with an interior panel or reinforcement substructure of the vehicle. These flanges are often exposed when a door assembly or trunk lid is opened, and are therefore commonly covered by an edge trim to conceal the aesthetically unappealing weld joints, or a seal structure (most commonly known as a “weather strip”) to prevent the unwanted ingress of rain, wind, dust, and other environmental conditions from the exterior of the vehicle. A secondary purpose of some seal structures is to improve aesthetic appearance, prevent unintentional evacuation of interior air (e.g., heating and air conditioning), and mitigate occupant perceptible exterior noise.
Traditional flange-mounted weather strips have an elastomeric, generally “U-shaped” body with an embedded reinforcing member, such as a metallic carrier, and a flexible sealing segment that projects integrally from one side of the body. The weather strip is presented to the flange with the legs of the U-shaped body in a non-parallel orientation on opposing interior- and exterior-sides of the flange. An inside surface of the seal body typically includes a number of retaining fingers (also referred to as “clamping lips”) that project inward from each leg. The seal structure is engaged with the flange by pressing the body against the flange to seat the closed end (or “web”) of the U-shaped profile against the terminal end of the flange. The retaining fingers contact the flange, and resist removal.
To engage and retain the seal structure with the flange of the vehicle, a hand-held roll forming tool is often employed to deform the internal reinforcement member. Traditional roll forming tools, which are commonly known as crimp on flange (COF) tools, incorporate a pair of mechanized crimping rollers rotatable in opposite directions about spaced axes, creating an “inward nip”. The crimping rollers are generally parallel to one another, and rotate about a stationary axis. An additional guide roller, which is transversely oriented relative to the crimping rollers, may also be incorporated. The various rollers are driven by any of a variety of mechanisms, including pneumatic or electric motors, in conjunction with corresponding gearing between a drive shaft and the rollers.
In use, the COF tool is applied to the flange-gripping portion and, when the rollers are rotating, the rollers drive themselves onto the flange-gripping portion of the seal (e.g., the legs and clamping lips). As the rollers are advanced along the weather strip, they apply a controlled pressure to the profile of the central section. By virtue of the parallel or generally parallel relationship between the rolling surfaces, the rollers will cause the flange-gripping portion of the seal to be crimped into a clamping engagement on the flange. The crimping deforms the internal carrier and, thus, retains the weather strip relative to the flange. The same COF tool can be used to engage and retain edge protectors, bumper inserts, rub rails, and other similarly configured structures.
Prior art COF tools have problems with fitting some flange mounted weather strips because of the manufacturing tolerances for both the weather strip and the vehicle. For instance, the opening to which the weather strip is fitted can have multiple flange thicknesses along its periphery. If the weather strip is preformed to accommodate a specific flange thickness, it may be too wide for single-layer (thin) flange thicknesses, and too narrow for multiple-layer (thick) flange thicknesses. This problem is further complicated because, in recent years, weather strips have developed into complex cross-sections. In addition, the crimp pressure and crimp speed of prior art COF tools cannot be independently adjusted to accommodate varying styles and types of weather strips.